Car Sales

New car sales are down nearly 19% on January last year. Does it mean that the new number plate system isn't working or could there be other reasons why sales of new cars are down. Michael Sheridan, Motoring Correspondent with the RTÉ Guide is in studio.

Keywords

Driving Safely with a Medical Condition

It seems like a no brainer that you need to be medically fit to get behind the wheel of a car and new guidelines brought out by the Road Safety Authority lay down the law on who can or cannot hit the road.

Prof Desmond O’Neill, Director of the National Programme Office for Traffic Medicine, and Consultant Physician in Geriatric and Stroke Medicine at Tallaght Hospital, is in studio to give us the detail.

PUBLIC MEETING - Driving Safely with a Medical Condition is a public meeting taking place in the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland on Friday 22 February 2013 at 6.30pm. It will focus on medical fitness to drive. All welcome.

Keywords

Media Training for Young People with Gay Parents

An advertisement in the Gay Community News newspaper from the Marriage Equality advocacy group offers free media training to the children of gay parents! Katriona McFadden investigates.

Marriage Equality are organising a training day for young people with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents. With a specialist media trainer, participants will learn how to share their stories in newspapers, on the radio and on television.

Training will be held at The Office of the Ombudsman for Children (Millenium House, 52-56 Great Strand St, Dublin 1, near the Jervis Luas stop) on Saturday, February 9 from 10am to 2pm. Lunch will be provided and if participants are not based in Dublin, Marriage Equality are happy to cover travel expenses within Ireland.

If you are over 18, have LGBT parent(s), want to share your story and make an important difference in the campaign for equality for all families, call 01-873 4183 or email kirsten@marriageequality.ie to reserve your place.

Keywords

Hedgerows: It is an offence to 'cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy hedgerows on uncultivated land during the nesting season from 1 March to 31 August, subject to certain exceptions'. For more information, click here.

UPDATE: February 29th 2016 - Press Release From BirdWatch Ireland:

Putting the record straight: Dates for burning and hedge-cutting have NOT changed

BirdWatch Ireland, Ireland’s largest conservation charity, is very concerned about misinformation that is currently circulating regarding the dates within which the burning of vegetation and cutting of hedges is permitted. It would like to remind landowners that all burning and cutting must cease on 29th February this year and that burning and cutting remains prohibited from 1st March to 31st August.

Despite attempts by the Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., to change the laws regulating these dates by introducing the Heritage Bill 2016 earlier this year, it is important to note that the proposed date changes were ultimately NOT made. This is because the bill failed to pass through both houses of the Oireachtas before the recent dissolution of the Dáil in advance of the general election.

The laws in place governing the dates for hedge-cutting and upland burning therefore remain unchanged. The period within which cutting and burning is prohibited are set down in Section 40 of the Wildlife Act 1976 (as amended in 2000), which states that:

(a) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy, during the period beginning on the 1st day of March and ending on the 31st day of August in any year, any vegetation growing on any land not then cultivated.
(b) It shall be an offence for a person to cut, grub, burn or otherwise destroy any vegetation growing in any hedge or ditch during the period mentioned in paragraph (a) of this subsection (above).

The existing law provides exemptions for road safety and other circumstances and should be read carefully to ensure compliance.

Section 40 of the Wildlife Act exists to protect nesting birds. Many of our upland bird species are in decline and are in danger of extinction in Ireland; amongst them is the Curlew, which has declined by 80%. Many birds which nest in hedgerows into August are also in serious decline, including the endangered Yellowhammer. The changes to the cutting and burning dates which had been proposed in the now-defunct Heritage Bill 2016 would have caused serious impacts to these birds. A petition launched by BirdWatch Ireland in conjunction with several other national conservation organisations to stop these changes attracted more than 16,200 signatures and rising.

BirdWatch Ireland would also like to advise members of the public that if they see hedges being cut or fires in the uplands on or after 1st March, such activity could be illegal. In such cases, we would encourage people to contact the National Parks and Wildlife Service (www.npws.ie) to report such activity.

BirdWatch Ireland warmly welcomes the demise of the Heritage Bill 2016 and sincerely hopes that any future administration will consider the importance of Ireland’s natural heritage and will not attempt to reintroduce such a flawed and damaging piece of legislation.

RTÉ.ie is the website of Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's National Public Service Broadcaster.RTÉ is not responsible for the content of external internet sites. Images courtesy of Inpho.ie and Getty Images.